Guitars 2

"When the family moved to New York City in 1964, Jeff went to Jimmy's Music S... more

"When the family moved to New York City in 1964, Jeff went to Jimmy's Music Shop on 48th Street to score his first good guitar—a Fender Jazzmaster—and wound up with a job: "For a buck and a quarter an hour, I was unloading Fender Twin Reverbs in the middle of the night, taking them up two flights of stairs, and loving every minute of it! Then I started to work on guitars. Dan Armstrong, who had a store on 48th and used to do Jimmy's repairs, noticed that there was no work coming from the shop anymore, so he came down to investigate and stole me. Boy, that's when my guitar education started happening. I learned a lot about electronics and how to build and customize—even made few guitars." Called to deliver an amp to a record company, Jeff was asked to fill-in for a guitarist who was late for a demo session. "Afterwards the guy didn't pay me, but he bought me a beer," he says, "and I thought hat was nice. It was cool—l was into studios for the price of a beer and an arm around my shoulder."

Amplifiers 3

"I go back to the beginning with the Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus amplifier. I m... more

"I go back to the beginning with the Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus amplifier. I met with Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi in 1975 and he presented the amp to me. Never before had I heard such clean tones at low and very high volumes. The JC-120 does an incredible job of reproducing whatever signal and sounds are plugged into it. I need an amp I can use for clean tones, fat tones, pedal steel guitar, and acoustic guitar. I have even bussed background vocals from a recording console through the JC-120 in the stereo chorus mode, with a mic on each speaker and back to the console—beautiful!

I have used the JC-120 on such songs as Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” and Donna Summers’ “Hot Stuff,” and on recording projects with Rod Stewart, Ringo Starr, and the TV series King of the Hill, to name just a few examples. I use it on virtually every live gig I do, from rock shows to classical guitar at the Kennedy Center with a choir and orchestra. Reliable, solid, sweet, and versatile, it is my go-to amp of choice. Very few guitar amplifiers are referred to as “iconic,” and the Roland JC-120 fits that description perfectly."

"What a thrill when that showed up in the mail! Usually, I use an Ampeg VT-22... more

"What a thrill when that showed up in the mail! Usually, I use an Ampeg VT-22 or Vox Super Beatle head. The Vox is excellent for steel guitar because it has very little inter-modular distortion at low volumes. It's an old one and has a nice reverb and echo for the steel."

"What a thrill when that showed up in the mail! Usually, I use an Ampeg VT-22... more

"What a thrill when that showed up in the mail! Usually, I use an Ampeg VT-22 or Vox Super Beatle head. The Vox is excellent for steel guitar because it has very little inter-modular distortion at low volumes. It's an old one and has a nice reverb and echo for the steel."

"If someone wants a chain-saw solo. I'll go in with my Roland GR 300 or a cou... more

"If someone wants a chain-saw solo. I'll go in with my Roland GR 300 or a couple of real ratty Gibson Les Pauls that sound pretty ugly when they're flat-out. And if they want the signature, like in "My Old School." I'll take my homemade Stratocaster. "

Other Gear 1

"I usually use these effects independently, I always have a limiter—an Orange... more

"I usually use these effects independently, I always have a limiter—an Orange Squeezer—coming right off the steel guitar, which keeps the signal to the volume pedal pretty constant. Then I put the other effects after that."